Sun-Spots-Request@RICE.EDU (Vicky Riffle) (07/24/87)
SUN-SPOTS DIGEST Friday, 24 July 1987 Volume 5 : Issue 27
Today's Topics:
Re: query on dump to sun scsi tape?
Diskless Sun boots from EEPROM (was: `Re: Ethernet meltdowns')
Re: Making X11-beta.1 on a sun3
Re: DVI (TeX output) previewers for Suns under SunView and X.
Re: xy450/xy451 failure modes
Re: Interesting icons
plot(1) filter for suns
bugs in SUN 3.4 upgrade script
Sun 4 press release
SUN suntools info available?
VT100/Tek 4014 emulator?
Using Ingres from Suntools/Suntools vt220 emulator?
Sun 3/50 Workstations and the IBM Cabling System?
Macsyma on Sun 3?
SunView question: forking tty windows from a notify routine?
bridge cs/100?
Sun workstations on Bitnet?
info on NEC D2362?
Problem with BSD-Curses : hard-/softscroll?
Sun Disks?
Sun 2/50 stand-alone question/parts?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jul 87 14:56:11 PDT
From: leres%lbl-helios@lbl-rtsg.arpa (Craig Leres)
Subject: Re: query on dump to sun scsi tape?
My recent posting on this topic was faulty. As it turns out, the QIC-24
format only makes 9 passes over the tape. Remeber that the general
formula for figuring out how many feet of tape dump can use is:
dump_tape_length = (actual_tape_length - 25) * no_of_passes
So when doing dumps, you should use something similar to one of the
following:
dump 0uncbsf 126 2475 /dev/rst8 /mnt # QIC-24, 300 foot tape
dump 0uncbsf 126 3825 /dev/rst8 /mnt # QIC-24, 450 foot tape
dump 0uncbsf 126 5175 /dev/rst8 /mnt # QIC-24, 600 foot tape
QIC-11 makes 4 passes:
dump 0uncbsf 126 1100 /dev/rst0 /mnt # QIC-11, 300 foot tape
dump 0uncbsf 126 1700 /dev/rst0 /mnt # QIC-11, 450 foot tape
dump 0uncbsf 126 2300 /dev/rst0 /mnt # QIC-11, 600 foot tape
Sorry for any unnecessary confusion.
Craig
------------------------------
Date: 15 Jul 87 04:29:40 GMT
From: elroy!jplopto!earle@seismo.css.gov (Greg Earle)
Subject: Diskless Sun boots from EEPROM (was: `Re: Ethernet meltdowns')
[This is wandering away from TCP/IP so I'll be brief - followups to Sun-Spots:]
In article <4819@columbia.UUCP> dupuy@amsterdam.columbia.edu (Alexander Dupuy) writes:
>We once had a similar problem with a broadcast storm started by a diskless
>Sun-3 trying to boot without a server. Although you are correct when you say
>that the boot broadcast address is hardwired in the Sun-3 PROMs, there is a
>workaround, at least if you aren't on a class A or B network with subnets
>(which is the case here at Columbia, and probably at Rutgers, *sigh*).
Nothing wrong with being on a Class B network with subnets (see below)
>However, if the server is at address 128.59.0.110 (say) you can set the default
>boot device to be ie(0,110,0), and the only broadcasts which the booting sun
^^^
No, this needs to be in hexadecimal.
>The catch in this is that if the server is at address 128.59.16.110, the host
>part of the address (by the pre-subnetting rules, anyhow) is the number 4206,
>and the largest possible unit number is 255. One hopes that Sun will someday
>support subnets in the boot PROM, so that this is no longer a problem; in the
>meantime, one might consider using subnet 0 (if that's legal) for Sun diskless
>clients and servers.
This is incorrect; the maximum unit number is not 255. One can (even on a
Class B subnet; I will not speak for a Class A net since I have not tried it)
take the hex equivalent of the subnet # * 256 and add the host number; for
example I did a tapeless install of Sun-2's by nd booting from the pub
partition of another Sun-2 (on a Class B subnet) with address 128.149.10.5.
To boot the tapeless clients I merely needed ((10 * 256) + 5) = 0xA05; doing
a `b ie(0, A05, 0)' worked just fine. The situation is analogous to trying
to set a Class B network address using Sun's `setup' automated configuration
program; if you try to give it `128.149.10' as the network number it
complains and demands a valid Class C address. You have to give it the
network number (e.g. 128.149) and then fool it when it asks for host number
by combining the subnet # and real host number.
This is really getting off the TCP/IP subject, but I thought I'd point it
out. We resume the broadcast storms already in progress ... :-)
Greg Earle earle@{jplpub1,jplopto}.JPL.NASA.GOV
(Now ex-)JPL jpl{pub1,opto}!earle@jpl-elroy.ARPA
jpl(pub1,opto}!earle@elroy.JPL.NASA.GOV
seismo!cit-vax!elroy!jpl{opto,pub1}!earle
------------------------------
Date: 13 Jul 87 17:42:47 GMT
From: ihnp4!hou2d!avr@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Adam V. Reed)
Subject: Re: Making X11-beta.1 on a sun3
In article <1462@hou2d.UUCP>, avr@hou2d.UUCP (Adam V. Reed) writes:
> I have managed to modify the X11-beta.1 Makefiles to get make to
> complete on a sun 3/50. Here is a summary of what's needed to
> make X11-beta.1 on a sun3 set up for system V compatibility:
The seventh point of my previous message got garbled. It should read:
7. Since /usr/include/mit-copyright.h is not supplied, remove the
dependency of XGetDflt.o on this file from Xlib/Makefile,
and then
mkdir include/X
cd include
ln copyright.h X/mit-copyright.h
Similarly with references to /usr/include/X/mit-copyright.h
in clients/xpr/Makefile, clients/xwud/Makeffile,
and clients/xwd/Makefile. Remove dependency and
ln -s include/X X
in the base X11-beta.1 directory.
Have fun,
Adam Reed (hou2d!avr)
------------------------------
Date: 15 Jul 87 05:37:07 GMT
From: jwm@renoir.berkeley.edu (Jeff Mc Carrell)
Subject: Re: DVI (TeX output) previewers for Suns under SunView and X.
I've written a rather complete previewer that runs under SunView. It
is licensed software, and is available for a nominal fee as part of a
bunch of software distributed by the VorTeX group here at Berkeley.
Another member of our group has written a previewer that runs under X.
For more information about the distribution, send a request to
dist-vortex@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
or
{seismo,ihnp4,decwrl}!ucbvax!dist-vortex.
jeff
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 87 03:47:50 GMT
From: mike@blipyramid.BLI.COM (Mike Ubell)
Subject: Re: xy450/xy451 failure modes
> In Sun-Spots Digest, v5n20, Jim Guyton writes (and I edit here):
> |
> | We've been running a lot of Sun-2's and 3's with Xylogic 450/451's and
> | Eagles/Super-Eagles.
> |
> | Over the years we've had at least three different controller boards fail on
> | us in such a way that the failure went UNDETECTED by the device driver.
>
> Sounds to me like you're running up against the performance limits of the
> Xylogics 450/451 controllers. At this point, they'll sometimes deliver a
> block of zeros rather than the data you asked 'em to read. There is apparently
> no way to know when this has happened, so the Sun device driver does not
> report any error back to the user. It just hands you that block of zeros.
>
> I've personally seen this bug crash machines at my site on the order of
> one hundred times (the details are too horrifying to relate in this note).
We have tried to use the controler with the older of the two 160 meg
fuji drives that SUN "supports" (the M2284, I think). We started loosing
files. First we were lent a second controler. The we were told
the proms in the controler were "too new" for the old drive and were
sent down rev proms. We then paid for SUN to come and look at our system.
They said the drive was flaky (HDA problems) so we swapped it for a working
drive from a VAX. Then our support contact went on vacation and
a new person told us that release 3.1 broke the supprot of that
drive and we should get rid of it or go back to release 3.0.
He stated that not many people have that drive and so not many support
people are aware of the problem. So after 2 months we may have
resolved this problem by chance. Does anyone else have experiance
with SUN support that suggests that they talk to each other?
------------------------------
Date: 20 Jul 87 21:31:19 GMT
From: marms@sandia.UUCP (Mike Arms)
Subject: Re: Interesting icons
In sun-spots v5n25, David P. Zimmerman sent in three interesting icons.
The third one was very humorous and prompted the following, more appropriate
icon. Enjoy. Thanks David.
/* Format_version=1, Width=64, Height=64, Depth=1, Valid_bits_per_item=16
*/
0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,
0xFFC1,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFF80,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,
0xFF00,0x7FFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFF00,0x7FFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,
0xFF00,0x7FFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFF00,0x7FFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,
0xFF00,0x7FFF,0xF003,0xFFFF,0xFF80,0xFFFF,0x8FE0,0xFFFF,
0xFFC1,0xFFFE,0x7FFC,0x3FFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFD,0xFFFF,0x1FFF,
0xFFFF,0xFFF3,0xFFFF,0x87FF,0xFFFF,0xFFEF,0xFFFF,0xE7FF,
0xFFFF,0xFFEF,0xFFFF,0xE3FF,0xDF7D,0xF7DF,0xFFFF,0xF1F7,
0xDF7D,0xF7BF,0xFFFF,0xF8F7,0x8E38,0xE3B0,0xFC3C,0x38E3,
0x8E38,0xE173,0x7E7C,0xDC63,0x0410,0x4173,0x7E7C,0xDC41,
0x0410,0x4373,0x7E7C,0xDC61,0x0410,0x42F0,0xFE7C,0x3E21,
0x0000,0x02F2,0x6664,0xE620,0x0000,0x02F3,0x2424,0xE620,
0x0410,0x42FF,0xFFFF,0xFE21,0x0410,0x42FF,0xFFFF,0xFE21,
0x0410,0x42FF,0xFFFF,0xFE21,0x0000,0x02FF,0xFFFF,0xFE20,
0x0000,0x02FF,0xFFFF,0xFE20,0x0410,0x42FF,0xFFFF,0xFE21,
0x0410,0x42FF,0xFFFF,0xFE21,0x0410,0x42FF,0xFFFF,0xFE21,
0x0410,0x42FF,0xFFFF,0xFE21,0x0000,0x02FF,0xFFFF,0xFE00,
0xFFFF,0xFEFF,0xFFFF,0xFE3F,0xFFFF,0xFEFF,0xFFFF,0xFE3F,
0xFFFF,0xFEFF,0xFFFF,0xFE7F,0xFFFF,0xFE00,0x0000,0x00FF,
0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFE00,0x0000,0x00FF,
0xFFFF,0xFDFF,0xFFFF,0xFEFF,0xFFFF,0xFBFF,0xFFFF,0xFCFF,
0xFFFF,0xF666,0x7E60,0xF8FF,0xFFFF,0xECCC,0xF8C1,0xF0FF,
0xFFFF,0xD998,0xE19F,0xE0FF,0xFFFF,0xB331,0x839F,0xC0FF,
0xFFFF,0x7665,0x27CF,0x81FF,0xFFFE,0xE0C8,0x4FCF,0x03FF,
0xFFFD,0xE399,0x9C1E,0x07FF,0xFFFB,0xCF33,0x383C,0x0FFF,
0xFFF7,0xFFFF,0xFFF8,0x1FFF,0xFFEF,0xFFFF,0xFFF0,0x3FFF,
0xFFDF,0xFFFF,0xFFE0,0x7FFF,0xFFBF,0xFFFF,0xFFC0,0xFFFF,
0xFF7F,0xFFFF,0xFF81,0xFFFF,0xFEFF,0xFFFF,0xFF03,0xFFFF,
0xFDFF,0xFFFF,0xFF07,0xFFFF,0xF800,0x0000,0x010F,0xFFFF,
0xF800,0x0000,0x011F,0xFFFF,0xF800,0x0000,0x013F,0xFFFF,
0xF800,0x0000,0x017F,0xFFFF,0xF800,0x0000,0x01FF,0xFFFF,
0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF,0xFFFF
--
Mike Arms
uucp: ...{ucbvax | gatech}!unmvax!sandia!marms
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 87 09:38:17 EDT
From: ndd@cs.duke.edu (Ned D. Danieley)
Subject: plot(1) filter for suns
I would like to thank everyone for their responses to my request
for a plot(1) filter for a Sun workstation. Most of the responses
suggested using tektool(1), an idea that we had already rejected
(the users don't like to have to deal with it). Fortunately, I
received replies from three people who had actually implemented
such a filter. When I get time (-:)), I'm going to evaluate them;
I hope to post the results soon.
Ned Danieley
ndd@duke.cs.duke.edu
------------------------------
Date: 15 Jul 87 03:49:04 GMT
From: hi!cyrus@hc.dspo.gov (Tait Cyrus)
Subject: bugs in SUN 3.4 upgrade script
Well, last week I was presented with the task of upgrading from
SUN UNIX 3.3 to SUN UNIX 3.4 on our 3/160. I was hoping that
this upgrade would go smoothly because previous upgrades did not.
Needless to say the 3.4 upgrade DID NOT go smoothly, because,
as with previous upgrades, the UPGRADE shell script was screwed up.
I posted, to the net, the problems I had with the 3.3 upgrade shell
script, and now I am going to post the problems I had with the
3.4 shell script in an attempt to help those folks who have not
made the upgrade yet.
FLAME ON!!!!!!
The following problems are the SAME, repeat the SAME ones that
I fought with in the 3.3UPGRADE. When will SUN produce a shell
script that works!!!!! Even after telling them about it, they
still haven't fixed them.
FLAME OFF
There are several problems which I would like to mention. This
is not a complete list nor are some of the fixes optimal. I
did not, nor do I care to, go through the entire script looking
for problems, although I did change some of the more obvious ones.
The main problems with the 3.4UPGRADE shell script have to deal
with upgrading clients, although there is one BIG bug that has
nothing to do with clients.
PROBLEM 1.
First of all, if you are on a 'tapeless' sun and have a 'remote'
tapedrive, SUN "assumes" that the ethernet board to go through
to get to the 'remote' tapedrive is zero (0). In our (UNM's)
case, this is an INCORRECT assumption. Two of our systems have
two ethernet boards in them. One for clients and one for talking
to the rest of the world. Our board 0 is what we have our clients
on, and our board 1 is what the rest of the world is on.
SUN "ifconfig"s {ie,le,ec,...}0 when attempting to make connection with
the 'remote' tape server. The way I fixed this was to allow the user
to specify the FULL device name; i.e. ie0, ie1, ec0, ec1, le0 etc.
In this way, there is NO question as to which ethernet board to use.
PROBLEM 2.
This problem, as above, also has to deal with a configuration in which
you have to use a 'remote' tape server. In this case, if your system
is ALSO the ypserver, the problem is that the shell script DOES NOT
start the ypserver. It then trys to find, via ypmatch, the name of the
'remote' tape server machine. Since there is NO ypserver running,
ypmatch timeouts.
I fixed this by adding an if which starts the ypserver if the machine
you are upgrading is a ypserver.
PROBLEM 3.
The upgrade script incorrectly parses the lines of /etc/nd.local.
PROBLEM 3a
First of all, the script trys to find the names of all 'active'
clients. It does this with a bit of code which I REFUSE to try
to understand. There are A LOT of inconsistencies is this code,
but it appeared to work (sort of). This code first does a grep.
If the return status says that grep found something, then the
output of that SAME grep 'should' be used as an argument to a
'set' which immediately follows the initial grep. Well, if
you look at the code, the second grep (the one as the arg to set)
does NOT have the SAME search pattern. I tried to come up with
something that was A LOT more clean, but gave up (to busy :^) ).
The problem with this code is when $ind is 1. In this case grep
found two lines which matched (on out system). The 1st was the
"version 1" and the 2nd was the one it was 'really' looking for.
The problem that results is the $1, which is supposed to be the
name of the client, is "1".
I fixed this by checking to see if $1 was "version", in which
case I did a 'shift 2'.
grep " $ind $endsym" $NDLOCAL > /dev/null 2>&1
case "$?" in
0)
set `grep " $ind $endsym" $NDLOCAL` ;;
1)
.
.
grep " $ind [0-9]$endsym" $NDLOCAL > /dev/null 2>&1
case "$?" in
0)
set `grep " $ind [0-9]$endsym" $NDLOCAL` ;;
PROBLEM 3b
The second problem is that once the names of the clients are
known, the nd partition that that client uses needs to be found.
The script did use:
set `grep "user $CLIENT 0" $NDLOCAL | sed s,\/," ",g`
ndl=ndl${8}
The problem we had is that we had 'prettied up' /etc/nd.local
so that the fields all lined up and were easy to read. The above
code FORCED the fields to be separated by spaces.
I fixed this by using awk.
PROBLEM 4.
This is not really a problem, but I will mention it anyway. I don't
like to use SUN's standard scheme of mounting /dev/xy?? on /usr.MC68020
or what ever because it makes 'df' look dirty. As a result, I went
through and replaced ALL references to /xxx.MC68020 with /xxx. Since
our system only servers 68020 machines, this caused not problems.
Well, you guessed it, the 3.xUPGRADE looks specifically for /xxx.MC680x0.
This was an easy fix. I just put in symbolic links from /xxx to
/xxx.MC68020. These links are not used for anything, df produces nice
readable output and 3.xUPGRADE worked.
END PROBLEMS
I hope you do not construe the above to say that I hate SUN's. Quite the
contrary, because I would rether have a SUN than a vax, unless of course
some kind sole gave me a vax in which case I would use the vax :^).
Following is a diff of the original 3.4UPGRADE and the one I modified.
As I mentioned above, I did not attempt to check to see if there were
any other problems, just those that affected our systems (3/160's serving
3/50's and 3/75's).
I hope this is of some help to those people who have not made the upgrade
to SUN UNIX 3.4.
Happy computing :-)
------- diff follows ------- diff follows -------- diff follows -------
*** /etc/3.4UPGRADE.org Thu Jul 9 15:02:23 1987
--- /etc/3.4UPGRADE Tue Jul 14 21:05:18 1987
***************
*** 100,109 ****
read TAPEHOST;
while true; do
echo
! echo -n "Enter ethernet type of this system ? [ec | ie | le] :"
read ETHER;
case "$ETHER" in
! "ec" | "ie" | "le" )
break ;;
* )
echo "${CMDNAME}: invalid ether type \"${ETHER}\"." ;;
--- 100,110 ----
read TAPEHOST;
while true; do
echo
! echo "Enter the ethernet device to use to get to"
! echo -n " the remote host [ecX, ieX or leX where X is 0, 1, etc]: "
read ETHER;
case "$ETHER" in
! "ec0" | "ec1" | "ie0" | "ie1" | "le0" | "le1" )
break ;;
* )
echo "${CMDNAME}: invalid ether type \"${ETHER}\"." ;;
***************
*** 296,301 ****
--- 297,305 ----
/bin/domainname ${DOMAIN}
/etc/portmap
/etc/ypbind
+ if [ "$MACHINE" = "server" ]; then
+ /usr/etc/ypserv
+ fi
ypmatch $TAPEHOST hosts > /dev/null 2>&1
fi
if [ "$?" != 0 ]; then
***************
*** 302,308 ****
echo "${CMDNAME}: can't reach tapehost \"${TAPEHOST}\" !!"
exit 1
fi
! /etc/ifconfig ${ETHER}0 ${HOST} -trailers up
fi
if [ "$MACHINE" = "server" ]; then
--- 306,312 ----
echo "${CMDNAME}: can't reach tapehost \"${TAPEHOST}\" !!"
exit 1
fi
! /etc/ifconfig ${ETHER} ${HOST} -trailers up
fi
if [ "$MACHINE" = "server" ]; then
***************
*** 353,358 ****
--- 357,365 ----
esac ;;
esac ;;
esac
+ if [ $1 = "version" ] ; then
+ shift 2
+ fi
CLIENT=$2
case "$1" in
"#user" )
***************
*** 366,373 ****
done
for CLIENT in $CLIENTLIST
do
! set `grep "user $CLIENT 0" $NDLOCAL | sed s,\/," ",g`
! ndl=ndl${8}
cd /dev
/dev/MAKEDEV ${ndl} 2> /dev/null
done
--- 373,380 ----
done
for CLIENT in $CLIENTLIST
do
! set `grep $CLIENT $NDLOCAL | awk '$3 == "0" { print $0 }'`
! ndl=ndl${7}
cd /dev
/dev/MAKEDEV ${ndl} 2> /dev/null
done
***************
*** 380,387 ****
fi
elif [ "$SERVERTYPE" = "heter" ]; then
for HOSTNAME in ${CLIENTLIST}; do
! set `grep "user $HOSTNAME 0" $NDLOCAL | sed s,\/," ",g`
! DISK=ndl${8}
mkdir /${HOSTNAME}
if mount /dev/${DISK} /${HOSTNAME}; then
cd /${HOSTNAME}
--- 387,394 ----
fi
elif [ "$SERVERTYPE" = "heter" ]; then
for HOSTNAME in ${CLIENTLIST}; do
! set `grep $HOSTNAME $NDLOCAL | awk '$3 == "0" { print $0 }'`
! DISK=ndl${7}
mkdir /${HOSTNAME}
if mount /dev/${DISK} /${HOSTNAME}; then
cd /${HOSTNAME}
***************
*** 529,536 ****
CLIENTLIST=${CLIENTLIST20}
fi
for HOSTNAME in ${CLIENTLIST}; do
! set `grep "user $HOSTNAME 0" $NDLOCAL | sed s,\/," ",g`
! DISK=ndl${8}
mkdir /${HOSTNAME}
if mount /dev/${DISK} /${HOSTNAME}; then
--- 536,543 ----
CLIENTLIST=${CLIENTLIST20}
fi
for HOSTNAME in ${CLIENTLIST}; do
! set `grep $HOSTNAME $NDLOCAL | awk '$3 == "0" { print $0 }'`
! DISK=ndl${7}
mkdir /${HOSTNAME}
if mount /dev/${DISK} /${HOSTNAME}; then
--
@__________@ W. Tait Cyrus (505) 277-0806
/| /| University of New Mexico
/ | / | Dept of EECE - Hypercube Project
@__|_______@ | Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
| | | |
| | hc | | e-mail:
| @.......|..@ cyrus@hc.dspo.gov or
| / | / seismo!unmvax!hi!cyrus
@/_________@/
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 87 17:31:42 PDT
From: marleen@sun.com (Marleen Martin McDaniel)
Subject: Sun 4 press release
SUN INTRODUCES 10-MIPS SUPERCOMPUTING WORKSTATION
NEW YORK, NY -- July 8, 1987 -- Sun Microsystems, Inc., introduced
today the Sun-4 family of 10-MIPS supercomputing workstations and
servers that give users the performance of a VAX 8800 system at
one-tenth the price.
"We expect this product family to redefine workstation computing and
create a new price/performance point in the industry," said Bernard
Lacroute, Sun's executive vice president. "Sun built its reputation
delivering workstations with industry-leading performance at unmatched
price/performance levels. The Sun-4/200 Series continues that
tradition."
"This is not a hardware-only announcement," said Sun President Scott
McNealy. "Sun has accomplished something rarely seen in the computing
industry by delivering the first supercomputing workstation with a full
complement of system and applications software available today."
Several original equipment manufacturers, including Valid Logic and LSI
Logic, have ported software applications to the new Sun platform, and
over 90 third-party software developers have either ported their
product or demonstrated intent to port to the new system.
The Sun-4/200 Series is ideally suited for all compute-intensive,
floating-point or graphics-intensive applications. The primary markets
targeted are high-end mechanical-CAD (MCAD) applications, such as
solids modeling and finite element analysis, electrical-CAD (ECAD)
applications including IC and PC layout and routing; artificial
intelligence (AI) development, earth resources, and molecular
modelling.
The Sun-4 family is source-code compatible with the Sun-3 and
Sun-2 families of 680X0 microprocessor-based products, allowing all
three product-families to use the same software and be combined in
network installations. Sun is also supplying software tools to ease the
porting process, allowing migration to the newer, high-performance
family of workstations at the user's discretion.
Key to the supercomputing workstation series is its new scalable
architecture based on RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)
technology. Called SPARC for Scalable Processor ARChitecture, it
is readily scalable to deliver dramatic performance increases in the
future.
Sun also announced a new server series based on the SPARC technology
that offers the highest performance of any UNIX-based system on the
market at dramatically lower costs than conventional
superminicomputers. Used as fileservers, compute servers,
communication gateways or as cost-effective timesharing systems, these
servers are ideal for building highly optimized networks.
A Sun-4/260 high-resolution, monochrome deskside workstation with 8
Mbytes of main memory is priced at $39,900. A Sun-4/260 color deskside
workstation with 32 Mbytes of main memory, a 560-Mbyte disk subsystem
and a 60-Mbyte 1/4-inch cartridge tape system is $85,500. Sample
server configurations range from $36,900 for the Sun-4/260S pedestal
model with 8 megabytes of main memory to $104,900 for a Sun-4/280S
server with 32 megabytes of main memory and 1.2 gigabytes of disk and
tape storage. The Sun-4 systems are available 60 to 90 days after
receipt of order depending on configuration.
Upgrades for Sun-3/260 and Sun-3/160 workstations to the 10-MIPS Sun-4
performance are also available. The upgrades are priced at $13,900 for
the Sun-3/260 and at $23,900 for the Sun-3/160.
Sun to License RISC Architecture
Sun also announced that it will license the new SPARC architecture,
operating system and related development tools and compilers to
semiconductor and systems manufacturers. This is the first time a
major computer systems manufacturer is making its own advanced CPU
architecture available to the open market. The licensees will in turn
supply chips, boards, and/or complete SPARC-based systems to the open
market. SPARC licensees announced today are Fujitsu Microelectronics,
Cypress Semiconductor, and Bipolar Integrated Technology.
Sun Reduces Base Price of Current 4-MIPS Systems
In conjunction with today's announcement of the 10-MIPS Sun-4 family,
Sun Microsystems has reduced the base price of its high-end Sun-3/200
Series of 4-MIPS systems by 15-19 percent. With this price reduction,
Sun now offers a fully expandable, high-end workstation at a mid-range
price.
New Software Targets AI Development
Sun also introduced the Symbolic Programming Environment (SPE), a set
of sophisticated software tools for the development of artificial
intelligence applications on Sun's general-purpose workstations. The
new tools, which improve productivity and ease program development in
the Lisp programming language, offer the first true symbolic
programming environment for general-purpose workstations. The Symbolic
Programming Environment lists for $3,500 and will be available in the
first quarter of 1988 for the Sun-4 and Sun-3 families of
workstations.
Sun Microsystems, Inc., of Mountain View, California, is the leading
supplier of distributed computing systems based on industry standards.
Press contact: Greg Xenakis, Sun Microsystems Press Relations (415) 691-6543
Product marketing contacts:
Arun Taneja/Chris Saleh, Workstation Division Product Marketing (Sun-4)
Arun Taneja/Jim Ricotta, Workstation Division Product Marketing (New Pricing)
Steve Diamond, Workstation Division Product Marketing (SPARC)
Gary Kinghorn, Software Products Division Marketing (SPE)
------------------------------
Date: 14 Jul 87 03:57:51 GMT
From: seismo!sun!cwruecmp!crds%ncoast.uucp@rutgers.edu (Glenn Emelko)
Subject: SUN suntools info available?
I have an ambitious project in mind, and was wondering if anyone has any
suggestions. I am running on a Charles River Universe 68/35, and I have a
high speed, high resolution graphics terminal connected to the CRDS through
a 38.4Kbaud serial channel. The terminal has display list capabilities, and
also has a built-in compiler, which can be used for controlling all of the
terminals functions (yes, I can send a program at the terminal, and then run
it locally).
What I would like to do is this: Create a .h file, and a supporting object
code library (as well as a supporting program for the terminal) to allow it
to do many (if not all) of the things a SUN can do -- using the exact same
commands (an emulation, in other words (pardon the pun)). Specifically, I
would like to support the /include/suntools/*.h and associated object code,
and other SUN specific graphics functions. Is this feasible??????
Any suggestions and/or direction would be greatly appreciated...
Regards,
Glenn A. Emelko
(Yes, sometimes I am in the habit of picking astronomically huge projects to
keep myself entertained with my hobby ... someday I will finish one of them)
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 87 08:59:10 EDT
From: George_Clarkson%mts.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu (George Clarkson)
Subject: VT100/Tek 4014 emulator?
Does anyone know of a VT100/Tek 4014 emulator that runs in a shell
window and can communicate to a remote host via a serial port?
We would like to have something analogous to Versaterm on the
Macintosh for using our Suns as terminals to other systems for
doing full-screen and graphical applications.
Thanks.
George R. Clarkson
Graphics Applications Consultant
Information Technology Services
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180
518-276-2752
------------------------------
Date: 15 Jul 87 19:37:50 GMT
From: harvard!munsell!atexrd!sda!sda@seismo.css.gov (Stephen Ayers)
Subject: Using Ingres from Suntools/Suntools vt220 emulator?
Has anyone developed a package that intergrates ingres and
suntools? Standard ingres forms look pretty poor on a sun
monitor. We would like a package that allows ingres to use
the mouse, buttons, scroll bars, etc..
What also might be of help is a replacement for shelltool that
emulates more if not all the functions of the DEC vt200 line.
This is being posted to multiple groups, sorry if you see it
more than once.
Thanks in advance!
Steve Ayers
Atex, Inc., A Kodak Company
+1 617 276 7384
seismo!harvard!adelie!munsell!atexrd!sda
--
Steve Ayers
seismo!harvard!adelie!munsell!atexrd
+1 617 276-7384
------------------------------
Date: 16 Jul 87 13:36:55 GMT
From: whna%cgcha.UUCP%cernvax.bitnet@jade.berkeley.edu (Heinz Naef)
Subject: Sun 3/50 Workstations and the IBM Cabling System?
More and more terminal and workstation manufacturers offer the option of
connecting their products to an IBM cabling system, in addition to the
known LAN networks. What about the Sun 3/50's?
We know of possible solutions with IEEE802.3 10Base2 baluns at both sides
of the IBM wire, connected to a Thin Ethernet Multiport Repeater in the
wiring center. Does anyone have experiences in that area?
Any comments on these topics are gratefully appreciated, including those
related to other universal cabling concepts.
Heinz Naef UUCP: ..!mcvax!cernvax!cgcha!whna || whna@cgcha.UUCP
BITNET: whna%cgcha.UUCP@cernvax.BITNET
c/o CIBA-GEIGY AG, R-1032.5.62, P.O.Box, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland
Phone: (+41) 61 37 26 75 - Fax: (+41) 61 36 43 54 - Telex: 962 355 cg ch
P.S.: What about a new newsgroup which would deal with universal wiring
concepts and the related products, e. g. comp.dcom.wiring?
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 87 16:19:12 PDT
From: franz!akbar!layer@ucbarpa.berkeley.edu (Kevin Layer)
Subject: Macsyma on Sun 3?
I don't know what Symbolics has done with Franz Lisp, but there was a
SUN OS bug, which vadvise() tickled, which prompted Franz Inc. to
remove the call to vadvise(). The OS bug has been fixed (since 2.2, I
think), and we have put the vadvise() call back into our version.
As for performance, a VAX and SUN with equivalent memory have
different amount of free memory. On the SUN, you are probably using a
window system--X, suntools or NeWS all use a good deal of memory. I
agree, though, that the performance of the SUN3 should be better than
the 780.
Kevin Layer
Franz Inc.
layer%franz.uucp@Berkeley.edu
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 87 12:29:03 EDT
From: mlandau@diamond.bbn.com (Matt Landau)
Subject: SunView question: forking tty windows from a notify routine?
Suppose I have a program that wants to fork a child which then wants to
create a tty window and run a program in it. The parent program sets up a
window with some panels and such, then goes into a window_main_loop() call.
At some point, the notify routine for an OK button gets called, and it
contains some code that looks (without all the status checks and error
handling) like this:
if (vfork() == 0)
{
NewFrame = window_create (NULL, FRAME, ..., 0);
NewTTY = window_create (NewFrame, TTY, ..., 0);
window_main_loop(NewFrame);
}
else if (!HangAround)
window_destroy(BaseFrame); /* parent is done */
to try to start the child program. This invariably causes the parent to die
with the message "Bad Notifier value." I suspect it's due to the fact that
the child is inside a window_main_loop when it tries to do another
window_main_loop.
Is it possible to get the effect I want here (having a parent fork off
arbitrary tools running in their own frames)? If so, how??
...Matt
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jul 87 17:33:55 GMT
From: fxtv@litp.UUCP (Francois Xavier TESTARD VAILLANT)
Subject: bridge cs/100?
We use a bridge CS/100(version 12010) communication server on an
ethernet network with TCP/IP to acces to a VAX 780 4.3 BSD with an ethernet
controller INTERLAN, a SUN 3, a SUN 2 and a PLEXUS (unix SV.2)
with an ethernet controller EXCELAN.
We have the following problem with VAX 780 and SUN 3:
- Sending a carriage return (ascii code 13), these two computers above
echo a line-feed (ascii code 10). This makes problems when using emacs editor,
tip, and window wich differentiate these two characters.
Curiously with SUN 2 and PLEXUS no such problem occurs.
Is this problem known and/or solved?
Thank you for help.
[..!decvax!mcvax!inria!litp!ab]
Here is a little piece of C code to test if there is a confusion or not.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include <sgtty.h>
struct sgttyb _tty;
#define initty() gtty(0,&_tty)
#define echo() (_tty.sg_flags |= ECHO, stty(0, &_tty))
#define noecho() (_tty.sg_flags &= ~ECHO, stty(0, &_tty))
#define raw() (_tty.sg_flags |= RAW, stty(0,&_tty))
#define noraw() (_tty.sg_flags &= ~RAW, stty(0,&_tty))
main()
{
char c;
initty();
raw();
noecho();
printf("OCTAL | HEXA | DECI | ASCII\n\r---------------------------\n\r");
while(c=getchar()) {
printf("%4o | %4x | %4d | ",c,c,c);
if(c < 32)
printf("^%c\n\r",c+64);
else if(c == 32) printf("sp\n\r");
else if(c == 127) printf("del\n\r");
else printf(" %c\n\r",c);
}
echo();
noraw();
}
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 87 16:07:46 CST
From: 79343382%TRINITY.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu (AARON KONSTAM)
Subject: Sun workstations on Bitnet?
Can any one tell me if there exists a RSCS emulator for the Sun
workstations that would allow them to be connected to Bitnet?
Is there some other way to connect them to bitnet? Call directly if
you can or send me the answer through electronic mail?
Aaron Konstam
Trinity University
(512)-736-7484
------------------------------
Date: 20 Jul 87 20:50:38 GMT
From: jjg%linus@mitre-bedford.arpa (Jeff Glass)
Subject: info on NEC D2362?
I would appreciate it if people would share their experiences with the
NEC D23xx series of disk drives, particularly the 2362. For those
unfamiliar, it is an 800MB (unformatted) SMD disk drive, comparable
to a Fuji 2361.
Pardon me if this has been discussed recently; in that case, perhaps
someone could mail me a summary.
/jeff
------------------------------
Date: 21 Jul 87 10:27:55 GMT
From: unido!gmdzi!axel@seismo.css.gov (Axel Meckenstock)
Subject: Problem with BSD-Curses : hard-/softscroll?
We'd like to have some help with BSD-Curses.
The problem is that - in contrast to SYSV-Curses - the terminal (vt220) does
a soft-scroll when reaching the end of the screen. We don't understand this
since we have entries for 'Scrolling Region', 'Insert Line' and 'Delete Line'
in our termcap. Writing a char at the right-lower corner of the screen should
do a hard-scroll as well. Is this a lack of BSD-curses or have we omitted
anything?
The following program was tested on a SUN-workstation with a DEC VT220-
terminal. Below we have listed our termcap definition.
Thanks in advance.
A. Meckenstock
Project 'ProLab'
Institut fuer Systemtechnik
GMD
5205 St. Augustin
Federal Republic of Germany
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include <curses.h>
main()
{
int i;
initscr();
scrollok(stdscr,TRUE);
for (i=1;i<1000;i++) {
addstr("abc");refresh();
}
}
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
d0|vt100|vt100-am|dec vt100:\
:cr=^M:do=^J:nl=^J:bl=^G:co#80:li#24:cl=50\E[;H\E[2J:\
:le=^H:bs:am:cm=5\E[%i%d;%dH:nd=2\E[C:up=2\E[A:\
:ce=3\E[K:cd=50\E[J:so=2\E[7m:se=2\E[m:us=2\E[4m:ue=2\E[m:\
:md=2\E[1m:mr=2\E[7m:mb=2\E[5m:me=2\E[m:is=\E[1;24r\E[24;1H:\
:rf=/usr/lib/tabset/vt100:\
:rs=\E>\E[?3l\E[?4l\E[?5l\E[?7h\E[?8h:ks=\E[?1h\E=:ke=\E[?1l\E>:\
:ku=\EOA:kd=\EOB:kr=\EOC:kl=\EOD:kb=^H:\
:ho=\E[H:k1=\EOP:k2=\EOQ:k3=\EOR:k4=\EOS:ta=^I:pt:sr=5\EM:vt#3:xn:\
:sc=\E7:rc=\E8:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:
dl|vt200|vt220|vt200-js|vt220-js|dec vt200 series with jump scroll:\
:sf=^J:\
:im=\E[4h:ei=\E[4l:mi:dc=\E[P:dm=:ed=:al=\E[L:dl=\E[M:\
:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:sf=\ED:sr=\EM:sb=\EM:\
:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[J:cd=\E[J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:nd=\E[C:up=\E[A:\
:so=\E[7m:se=\E[27m:us=\E[4m:ue=\E[24m:\
:md=\E[1m:mr=\E[7m:mb=\E[5m:me=\E[m:\
:is=\E>\E[?3l\E[?4l\E[?5l\E[?7h\E[?8h\E[1;24r\E[24;1H:\
:rs=\E>\E[?3l\E[?4l\E[?5l\E[?7h\E[?8h:\
:tc=vt100:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 87 13:42:58 EDT
From: tbray%watsol.waterloo.edu@relay.cs.net (Tim Bray)
Subject: Sun Disks?
Recommendation Sought for Megadisks on Suns
The New Oxford English Dictionary Project is grappling with the problem
of putting the whole dictionary, rather than just pieces, on line. The
dictionary is > 400 Mb in size. We want it in one file. We also plan
to have several different kinds of indices with a total size somewhat
greater than that of the raw data. (Not in the same file with the
dictionary). We currently have a 3/160 with some Eagles. We will likely
be moving to 4/xxx next year unless somebody else catches up in the
price/performance race.
It seems clear that it is a bad idea to try to solve this problem with
Eagles from sun. They are too small and too expensive. So, what's the
solution? We are open to all sorts of radical ideas including WORMs.
Adv(Thanks)ance.
Tim Bray, New Oxford English Dictionary Project, U. of Waterloo
tbray@watsol.waterloo.edu
tbray%watsol@waterloo.csnet
------------------------------
Date: 21 Jul 87 19:15:22 GMT
From: rolf%sdcc3@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu (Rolf Schreiber)
Subject: Sun 2/50 stand-alone question/parts?
I'm looking for an (inexpensive) way to run a Sun 2/50 diskless client
as a stand-alone machine. As I understand it, this means adding a SCSI
interface board. If you have one for cheap, I would love to hear from
you.
If you have any suggestions for alternative methods, I'd like to hear
those as well.
Please E-mail your responses, as I don't read this newsgroup regularly
and I'm sure that a stupid project like this isn't of general interest :-)!
Thanks in advance for any and all information!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rolf Schreiber, UCSD Academic Computer Center
PacBell: (619) 534-6090
ARPA: sdcc3!rolf@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU
UUCP: ...ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcc3!rolf
------------------------------
End of SUN-Spots Digest
***********************